Haiti, Soulouque, and US and French Political Cartoons and Caricatures

Political cartoon from 1839 satirizing the 'gag rule' in Congress which prohibited discussion of slavery and abolition. Obviously that didn't quite pan out in the end, but here John Quincy Adams is shown cowering at the frown of a Whig supporter of slavery. Adams is shown with abolitionist newspapers and a resolution to recognize Haiti.See, Haiti appears in US political culture throughout the 19th century. Note to self, read more about Adams and his support for abolitionist causes and recognition of Haiti. 

Source: http://primarysourcenexus.org/2012/04/featured-image-abolition-frowned-down/

"Horizontal print caricaturing the self-made emperor of Haiti and his court. Soulouque wears an elaborate military uniform and a crown. He holds a sword in his right hand and beckons to another man with his left, saying, "Come along niggar, come along, dont be affraid, we's flesh & blood like youself ... now den, I Soloque emqeror [sic] ob Hayti by de autoity in my west do create de, grand duke ob de emqire [sic]." The future grand duke, also in elaborate uniform with large plumes, bows before him as a member of the audience encourages him to bow lower. At right, three figures identified below the image as resident English, American, and French men complain of the smell, the Englishman holding a scent bottle to his nose and the Frenchman retching, and discuss the preference of "colored people" for "monarchial forms & ceremony." At right, a woman identified as the empress slouches low on her throne. A young man in cap and gown is identified as the prime minister."

American caricature of Soulouque and his nobility. In truth, Soulouque's nobility was preposterous, but the racist discourse attributed to Soulouque's faction (which seems to draw on stereotypes of African-American vernacular english in 1849 or 1850) clearly reveals how, to US whites, all blacks are the same: equally inferior. Blacks, according to the English, French, and American at the right in the image smell bad and prefer a monarchical form of government, presumably due to some racist myths about blacks being too dumb or savage to understand democracy and restraint. See, part of the reason I am fascinated by Haitian history is how well it parallels 20th and 21st century Western discourse on post-colonial Africa. Much like Mobutu's Congo/Zaire or more recently, Mugabe's Zimbabwe, whites in Europe and North America use their media (which of course includes political cartoons) to ridicule and perpetuate racist exaggerations and beliefs about the incapacity for blacks to, for instance, build democratic states, or a play on the ludicrous monarchical or imperial titles of ex-slaves and their descendants. You know, things haven't changed much since the mid-19th century, Western discourse and media coverage on Africa or predominantly black countries continues to rely on similar tactics and stereotypes.

Source: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008661810/

http://www.worldcat.org/title/soloque-emperor-of-hayti-creating-a-grand-duke/oclc/191120462

French caricaturist Daumier loved to insult Soulouque, comparing him quite obviously to apes in the timeless white tradition of anti-black racism for the last few centuries. Like my post on orangutans, black women, and Bushmen explains, the growing influence of scientific racism and other pseudoscience helped promote such vile and offensive portrayals of we people who are darker than blue. 

Source: http://bir.brandeis.edu/handle/10192/3577

Another Daumier piece from the same site as the above image. Self-explanatory and clearly satirical, since Soulouque would likely never have gotten away with or dared try to force a European journalist into a cauldron. This image is from 1850 while the above is from 1856, which, if I remember correctly, was one year after Soulouque's failed second invasion of the Dominican Republic. 

Caricature of a Haitian Ambassador in the Antebellum US

Lithograph by an unknown artist from 1839 depicting US president Martin Van Buren meeting with a Haitian diplomat (Source). Of course, formal diplomatic relations between the US and Haiti did not begin until 1862 (when most Southerners in Congress had seceded and joined the Confederacy so they couldn't actually block diplomatic relations), but this political cartoon reveals the constant presence and reminder of Haiti and black revolt in the antebellum US. Note how the shadowy figure behind the chair to the left of Martin Van Buren (standing man on the left) is actually part of a plot against the pro-slavery Southern wing in Van Buren's own party, which is why he organized a meeting between a Haitian ambassador and Van Buren. Indeed, these pro-slavery Democrats actually put words in Van Buren's mouth, claiming he voted to enfranchise colored (Black) Americans, another lie!

Obviously, the Haitian ambassador is ridiculed and his dialogue actually indicates a mockery of African-American English of the 19th century while his references on the progress of the abolitionist movement in the US would obviously be more proof to Southern elites of how their 'rights' to own human property were undermined by the hated abolitionists. The ambassador's words below:

"I ab de honor to present de compliments ob de President ob Hayti and congratulations on de cause of Bobolition goin ahead in de Nited States."

Interestingly, even before formal diplomatic relations, white American traders were always in Haiti. Indeed, one white American was actually mayor of St. Marc in the early 1840s! Or the large amount of Haitian coffee consumed in the US during this period, alongside other Haitian exports. The presence of thousands of African Americans moving to and fro in the first two independent states in the US would also have strengthened bonds between the US and Haiti, regardless of the wishes of white Americans opposed to emancipation and recognition of Haitian independence. 

Finding this image online (while actually looking for images of Haitian historical figures in the first half of the 19th century) has actually rekindled my passion for trying to understand more of the nuances and complexities of Haitian-US relations in this first century. Boyer's time in the US, for instance, is another episode that influenced Haiti (the white American mayor of St. Marc was an acquaintance, if I remember correctly, of Boyer's during that time) as well as the question of US annexation of the Dominican Republic and Mole St. Nicholas in the second half of the century.